Namco Puts DS Owners to the Test

Share.

Earn 100 million dollars (in fake DS money).

By Anoop Gantayat

The DS is establishing a name for kids games, mini-game based games and more adult-oriented fare like Nintendo's own Brain trainer title. Now Namco is combining all three into one with Kono Quiz Yarou!!.

This quiz game places you in the shoes of Kyuji Kaidou, a freshman at Kuizu Higashi High School. (The "Kuizu" part of the school's name is a pun on "Quiz," with Kyuji's last name being a pun on "solve.") Kyuji, along with other kids from around the world, take part in a tournament to determine the king of quizzes. At stake is a 100 million dollar prize.

Kono Quiz Yarou!! features both single and multiplayer modes. In single player, you select a character and work through a story which has you take part in a tournament. Each character has unique special moves. In multiplayer mode, up to eight players can hook up for both competitive and cooperative play. The game supports download play from a single cartridge.

For the quiz side of the game, Namco seems to have gone all out. The game features over 7,000 questions, some requiring that you select an answer from four choices, while others involving memory and comparison questions. The stylus is put to good use in these parts. For questions involving calculations, you input your answer on a number pad that appears on the bottom screen. Some true/false questions show a group of spectators on the bottom screen, and in order to answer, you have to use the stylus to make the crowd move to one side of the screen.

Namco is also working some mini games into the formula. These mini games take on a variety of forms, but all make use of the stylus.

A release date has yet to be set for Kono Quiz Yarou!!. Whenever the game does arrive, it will obviously require good Japanese language skills, so make sure you're prepared before importing.